{"id":1626,"date":"2017-01-06T18:49:11","date_gmt":"2017-01-06T18:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/?p=1626"},"modified":"2017-01-06T18:49:11","modified_gmt":"2017-01-06T18:49:11","slug":"vat-basics-freelancers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/","title":{"rendered":"VAT basics for Freelancers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Freelancers have relatively simple accounting and tax requirements. However, VAT requirements are significant and compulsory if your turnover is \u00a383,000 or over each year.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_65 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-grey ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/#Rates_of_VAT_for_Freelancers\" title=\"Rates of VAT for Freelancers\">Rates of VAT for Freelancers<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/#Freelancers_must_submit_a_VAT_return_every_three_months\" title=\"Freelancers must submit a VAT return every three months\">Freelancers must submit a VAT return every three months<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/#Freelancers_can_register_for_VAT_voluntarily\" title=\"Freelancers can register for VAT voluntarily\">Freelancers can register for VAT voluntarily<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/#VAT_advice_from_Specialist_Accountants_for_Freelancers\" title=\"VAT advice from Specialist Accountants for Freelancers\">VAT advice from Specialist Accountants for Freelancers<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Rates_of_VAT_for_Freelancers\"><\/span>Rates of VAT for Freelancers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Once you have registered for VAT, the VAT rate that you must charge will depend on the type of goods or services that you supply.<br \/>The standard rate of VAT is 20% which covers most goods and services, however there are some exceptions to this rule. The reduced VAT rate for some gas and electricity is 5%. Some goods and services have a 0% VAT rate which encompasses most food and children\u2019s clothes. Some goods and services in the sports, antiques and charity sectors are VAT exempt. To ascertain what VAT rate you would have to charge can be found at https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Freelancers_must_submit_a_VAT_return_every_three_months\"><\/span>Freelancers must submit a VAT return every three months<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Your VAT return must be submitted every three months and your deadline is shown on your VAT return. HMRC must receive your VAT payment by this deadline otherwise a surcharge will apply. Note that some forms of payment can take 3 working days to arrive at HMRC\u2019s bank account and this time delay must be taken into account.<\/p>\n<p>A VAT payment deadline calculator can be accessed via <a class=\"under\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/vat-payment-deadlines\">www.gov.uk\/vat-payment-deadlines<\/a><\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Freelancers_can_register_for_VAT_voluntarily\"><\/span>Freelancers can register for VAT voluntarily<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You can opt to register for VAT on a voluntary basis before you meet that threshold hence benefitting from reclaiming VAT on all purchases made from VAT-registered suppliers. However, if you regularly deal with companies that aren\u2019t VAT-registered you need not voluntarily register for VAT as your business would benefit.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"VAT_advice_from_Specialist_Accountants_for_Freelancers\"><\/span>VAT advice from Specialist Accountants for Freelancers<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Pearl Accountants specialise in providing Freelancers with their VAT registration and filing. View our dedicated section <a class=\"under\" href=\"\/who-we-help\/accountants-for-freelancers\/\">Accountants for Freelancers<\/a> for a full description of our specialist accounting services we offer Freelancers.<\/p>\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Freelancers have relatively simple accounting and tax requirements. However, VAT requirements are significant and compulsory if your turnover is \u00a383,000 or over each year. Rates of VAT for Freelancers Once you have registered for VAT, the VAT rate that you must charge will depend on the type of goods or services that you supply.The standard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/\" class=\"more-link\">&#8230;<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  VAT basics for Freelancers<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4306],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>VAT basics for Freelancers - A Quick Guide - Pearl Accountants<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"If you&#039;re a freelancer and need to file your VAT return here is an excellent article for some VAT basics and everything you need to know.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VAT basics for Freelancers - A Quick Guide - Pearl Accountants\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If you&#039;re a freelancer and need to file your VAT return here is an excellent article for some VAT basics and everything you need to know.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pearlaccountants.com\/blogs\/vat-basics-freelancers\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pearl Chartered Accountants &amp; 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